Man City get Champions League boost after being denied golden opportunity

It seemed too good to be true, and it turns out that it was - albeit for circumstances outside of Manchester City's control.

The Blues had already blasted their way back from the jaws of defeat to beat one of their bogey sides when they downed Crystal Palace last month. And the fixtures and the formbook were aligning to mean Pep Guardiola could also have denied his biggest irritant Tottenham just seven matches into the Premier League season.

Antonio Conte's team have looked excellent so far this season after a terrific summer transfer window, and 'Lads, it's Tottenham' does have a very different meaning at the Etihad than it did for Sir Alex Ferguson's United. But, with Erling Haaland smashing in his 11th and 12th goals in seven games during a 4-0 win over Sevilla, City had every right to be confident that this could be a prime opportunity to put Spurs to the sword and send a message to the rest of the Premier League.

Also read: Man City to pay casual workers and donate food from postponed games

Instead, they will simply be training this weekend behind closed doors after the Premier League decided to postpone the upcoming set of fixtures following the death of the Queen. With the funeral set to be in the not-too-distant future, next weekend's games are also in doubt owing more to logistical rather than sentimental reasons.

There are many more people to feel sorry for in the postponements than a super-rich Premier League football club: once again, tens of thousands of supporters and workers up and down the country will be left out of pocket by the late decision and too much food that will already have been set for this weekend will be wasted. In a cost-of-living crisis, such snap decisions will really hurt.

But if there